Part 2 — EXPECTATION.
Reading edition
BY LOUISA M. GREEN.
[SEE ENGRAVING.]
Why comes he not? He should have come ere this: The promised hour is past: he is not here! I love him—yes, my maiden heart is his; I sigh—I languish when he is not near. The truant! Wherefore tarries he? His love, Were it like mine, would woo him to my side— Or does he—dares he—merely seek to prove The doubted passion of his promised bride? Do I not love him? But does he love me? He swore so yester-eve, when last we met Down in the dell by our old trysting-tree: Can he be false? If so, my sun is set! No; he will come—I feel—I know he will; And he shall never dream that once I sighed; I hear his step—behold his form: be still, Warm heart; he comes—to clasp his bride.